S Ranked Reincarnation: My Infinite Leveling System

"I don't like the way the Rift feels tonight," Lyra muttered, fingers wrapped tightly around her pulseblade as the group hurried through the corridor below the Guild Tower. Her eyes darted to Mireya, who struggled to keep up, her breath shallow, flickering in and out like a candle fighting against wind.

"She's fading," Viera said, slowing her pace to steady Mireya with one arm. "The tether's degrading faster than projected."

"The Gate's pulling harder," Mireya rasped. "I feel it—it's in my blood, in my teeth—like it's calling me."

Ning Que moved in silence ahead of them, jaw set, steps relentless. "We're eleven clicks from Gate Three. Once we cross the southern docks, we hit Rift terrain. No turning back."

Aeris tapped her comm. "Diversion teams in place?"

"Copy," came the reply. "False Rift breach triggered in Lab Sectors. Guards are peeling off."

"Good," Ning murmured without looking back. "Then we still have a window."

The docks rose out of the dark like ribs from a corpse. Above, the moon hung split and dim, its fractured reflection bending across water streaked with Riftlight. As the shuttle skimmed across the ocean, none of them spoke. Only Mireya, shivering against the railing, broke the silence: "What happens… when we reach it?"

Ning's voice was low. "We end what we began."

---

They arrived at dawn, the cliffs jagged and sickly pale, grass leached of color. Where the ocean should've been, there was only absence—a yawning void—and rising from that nothing, a black spire hovered, its edges blurred, its presence ancient.

Viera stared up at it. "It shouldn't be here."

"It always was," Ning said, stepping forward, the stone beneath him humming with recognition. Light spiraled from the sigil embedded in the shrine's door. Golden. Warm. Dangerous.

Mireya gripped his sleeve, eyes wide. "This is where you made the oath. You bound yourself to stop the Reclaimer line from ever waking again. You... created this lock."

"And I have to break it now," Ning said quietly. He raised his hand to the sigil. "Because the lock failed."

"No." Lyra grabbed his wrist. "You are the lock."

"I was," he replied. "Not anymore."

As his palm met the sigil, the stone groaned, the shrine split, and a glowing crystal hovered inside, pulsing with sovereign energy. The system flared.

> Oath Broken. Sovereign Divergence Triggered. New Path Registered: Reclaimer Sovereign.

---

Hours passed in eerie silence. They trekked through Rift-warped terrain—fields of bleached white grass, trees bent backward, the air too still. When they reached the edge of the chasm, the Third Gate stood waiting: a ring of floating stone, suspended over abyss, surrounded by swirling Riftlight and etched with runes that spun slowly, endlessly.

Aeris swallowed. "They're here."

The Siren Host appeared like ghosts—ten of them, clad in mirror-armor, melodies trailing from their forms like soundless music. One drifted forward.

"You bear the scent of broken oaths," it said, its voice vibrating through marrow.

Mireya stepped beside Ning, her thread sparking. "He bears more than that. He was the Oath."

The Siren tilted its head. "Then he will bear judgment."

There was no time to react.

The Sirens struck—waves of memory crashing into them. It wasn't noise—it was remembrance. Ning buckled, past and future invading at once. Lyra screamed something unintelligible. Viera chanted barriers through gritted teeth. Aeris slashed wildly, but the Sirens slipped through time, not space.

Mireya stumbled, arm raised, raw threadlight bleeding from her fingers. "Ning! Use it!"

> Memory Reversal Pulse unlocked.

He didn't hesitate. "Get back," he whispered, and activated it.

A golden wave surged outward. Sirens shrieked, their forms stuttering as memories fractured and replayed. One collapsed entirely, its armor crumbling into dust and song. "The seal—he carries the seal—"

"I am the seal," Ning growled, unsheathing the Katana of Light.

He slashed.

Reality cracked.

And from the split—he stepped out.

Another Ning. Taller. Older. Eyes burning. Voice like thunder. "You shouldn't have come. We sealed this for a reason."

"I came to unseal it," Ning said, heart thundering.

The Rift pulsed again.

Time broke.

---

Ning fell—into memory, into fire, into a world made of reversed stars and scorched stone. In the heart of it, the First Reclaimer stood, cloaked in flame, katana across his back, staring with haunted eyes.

"So… you broke the first oath."

"I had to," Ning said, stepping forward. "The seal is no longer enough."

The Reclaimer's gaze darkened. "You sealed it to protect her. To forget her."

"I didn't forget," Ning said through clenched teeth. "I couldn't."

"But you did. You sacrificed her to keep the Rift closed. And now you're here to open it again? You think you can save her this time?"

"I will," Ning said.

"Then show me."

They fought.

Blade against blade. Flame against light. The ground shook, the air split open, and with every strike, memories bled out. Towers rebuilt and crumbled. Mireya's voice echoed from the sky—distant, broken: "Ning—your tether—it's tearing—"

He turned. Her thread was unraveling, her image fading like a dying sun.

"I won't lose her again!"

The Reclaimer paused, his blade dripping with starlight. "Neither did I," he whispered. "But I became the seal. I became the cage."

"You chose silence," Ning snapped. "I choose truth."

Then the battlefield changed.

Ning saw the past—Reclaimers arguing, fighting, defecting. Saw Sovereigns born from betrayal. Saw himself holding the seal as Mireya died.

The First Reclaimer's voice trembled. "We weren't meant to lead. We were meant to contain."

"I'm not a prison," Ning said, stepping forward. "And I won't be one."

"Then what are you?"

"The break in the pattern."

> New Thread Formed: Reclaimer Sovereign. Divergence Confirmed. Path: Revolution.

Light consumed the field.

Ning gasped awake on the Third Gate's platform, heart hammering, breath torn from his lungs. The katana hovered near, brighter than ever. Mireya collapsed behind him, her tether barely holding.

He caught her, cradled her. "Stay with me. Stay—"

"I'm here," she whispered faintly. "I saw it too…"

Above them, the sky cracked.

The Gate pulsed. Riftlight surged like a storm. A column of silver fire rose into the heavens.

Viera stumbled onto the platform, her mouth open in awe and terror.

And softly—so softly—it fell from her lips:

> "The gate is open. Now we see who walks through."